‘Cosplay’ is a wasei-eigo term referring to the hobby [and sometime paid modeling gig] of crafting and wearing costumes that resemble popular anime, comic, and video game characters. The term, a portmanteau combining the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’, was coined by advertiser Nobuyuki Takahashi in a 1983 article for a publication called My Anime. Cosplay steadily garnered a significant following since then, most notably in Tokyo’s Akihabara district – the mecca for all things ‘otaku‘.

Since then, both the word and the subculture have spanned the globe, creating hobbyist groups and expos in most major cities. Conventions, like Anime-Expo in Los Angeles, create receptive forums of like-minded individuals who can appreciate each other’s creations. However, while cosplay is an artistic expression through the medium of costumery, the amount of effort is sometimes greatly contrasted at these events.

A recent thread on Hamusoku created a lot of attention by containing a collection of ‘overwhelming’ cosplay by some amateur foreign costume creators. The overall lack of workmanship created more than one jab at the cosplayers’ motivation, however many people mentioned that ‘as long as they are having fun, let them be’. What Japanese netizens did not realise, however, is that ‘cospobre’ [a mixture of ‘costume’ and ‘pobre’, or ‘poor’] is an online Brazilian competition in which the aim is to create your costume using the least amount of money possible, with many making their costumes for free…

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dim mak

BR? Algum BR?

BR?

BR?

BR?

Hueuhuehuehueheuhuehue IRON MAN #1

http://www.facebook.com/reira.ritz Reira Ritz

BR!axei o 25 o melhor

dim mak

25 aint bad tho, just needs sum paint

What is that zodiac knights or something

Man, I feel old

YourSupremeCommander

These costumes are real GANSTA!

AnthonyLudovici

A lot of these are quite clearly meant to be taken in a kind of self-deprecating jest.

Do Japanese not understand the concept of self-deprecation? Serious question, I’m not leveling accusations here but it seems like making fun of yourself is more a Western thing than an East-Asian thing.

ASDF

Also i think Westerners are making their costumes crude on purpose so others don’t accuse them of being nerdy, geeky, and having no life. This type of ridicule is also more of a Western thing than an East-Asian thing.

Yea

And cause it’s funny. It’s not about trying to be less geeky, it’s about who has the better and more awesome costumes.

Sillian

Whether you know it’s from self-depreciation or not, you can laugh pointing out why it looks so poor. What particularly makes you think they take it seriously and don’t understand the concept of making yourself look crappy on purpose?

AnthonyLudovici

I didn’t say they took it seriously, I said that there seems to be a sociological difference in how East and West approach the concept of making fun of oneself (Self-Deprecation).

My fairly amateur guess admittedly, is that the concept of ‘face’ has something to do with it, in that occasionally jocularly mocking oneself isn’t seen as a kind of reflection of good nature/confidence in the East, but rather, can impact negatively upon one’s ‘face’.

http://twitter.com/Caaaal Callum

* do these japanese people

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739050300 Andrew Kieth Murray

They get self deprecating comedy. A lot of Japanese comedy is about making a fool of yourself.

Cleo

those “monocellular” Americans could not have possibly tsunami bombed Japan on 3-11 – after all, no one cares about the level of skill needed to make World of Warcraft when we are all sooo impressed with Final Fantasy: Spirits Within.

ghost

and this is relevant how?

Elf Queen

I loled at 43.Pretty funny!

nintendo-nerd

Most whites can’t cosplay at all (no offense) –
– no good at making the costume (probably bought from Ebay)

– no good acting as the character

Go to Deviant Art.com and check out the western cosplays in the US/Europe,
and the Asian ones in Hong Kong/Taiwan/Japan/Korea/China, etc,
major difference in quality right there.

http://www.facebook.com/anabelenruiz90 Ana Belen Ruiz

those “cosplay” were pathetic on purpose, check the watermark: “Cospobre” in spanish “Pobre” means poor. So, It’s all a joke

I beg to differ with you, the russian cosplays are fucking awesome

besudesu

You’re right Ana. That was also mentioned in the introduction; cospobre is about making the costume for as little money as possible. But the Japanese netizens didn’t realise this…

linette lee

These people are so creative I love it. They probably use things around the house to make these costumes. Toilet paper, paper clips, paints..

gangnamstyle

creative? the hell u talkin bout, there wasnt an ounce of creativity there

linette lee

Why don’t you go make a costume with cardboards, toilet papers, and tinfoil and see how well your costume will look.

Poko chan

They did realize. They often make scarstic comments on the net.

tonkotsu

it doesn’t mean they were all pathetic on purpose (or related to the site). It means that all of them suck, and some of them happen to be on purpose. Many of those pics have been posted elsewhere so its not limited to cosporbre.

Other than the natural physical advantages that westerners have over asians in cosplay (as many manga/anime are drawn to resemble westerners), asians in general, seem to put a lot more effort into their cosplay.

Looks like you didn’t bother to RTFA. Fine then, they are meant to be drawn as whites (I mean, what white person DOESN’T have eyeballs bigger than their mouth?), just like the “Have A Nice Day” smiley is clearly meant to be an Asian: the round yellow face, the tiny black eyes, the non-existent nose – how could you possibly deny it?

tonkotsu

you should take things less serious…

http://twitter.com/vonPeterhof Vadim Dominov

Curses! Looks like I have committed the gravest sin a n00b like me could possibly commit – I took things seriously on the Internet, a.k.a. got butthurt! My feeble “;)” failed to hide my seeting rage at your make-believe ignorance! Good sir, I tip my hat to your trolling skills and acknowledge you as the superior netizen as I walk out of town with my head forever lowered in shame

mr.wiener

“Most whites can’t cosplay at all (no offense) — no good at making the costume (probably bought from Ebay)
As to the not getting into character?….Well sadly most of us have real lives.

I Agree with your first statement though, but In the case of myself and some others I beg to differ. Pictures to be posted next week, trapped at my in-laws house for Chinese new year at present.
Most of these costumers were taking the piss though.

https://www.facebook.com/dinie.akhemu Gerhana

Mr. Wiener costplay?….
o_O

mr.wiener

I am considered a minor costuming deity by some people.

Also a careful read of the article reveals this was a contest in which in which the contestants were expected to make their costumes as cheaply as possible , [no. 25 rocked] free if possible. I approve as I made last years predator costume out a some old sofa cushions.

https://www.facebook.com/dinie.akhemu Gerhana

ok, show us something next week. Did you do something along the line of ship captain?

there is no creativity there he will just paint his body blue and put that sign on his forehead. Anyway that guy is the worst character in that movie. He is emotional philosophisizing (<- whatever) superman.

http://twitter.com/Caaaal Callum

A lot of white people are just as good as the best in Asia too. And considering a lot of anime characters are drawn like Caucasians, Caucasians tend to be more suited for those characters.

EightNineBall

I just went to deviantart.com. There are plenty of very good Western cosplayers.

But the Asian cosplays are undeniably breathtaking.

It all comes down to dedication.

Your Sexy Cousin Rex

IRON MAN LOL

ghost

#43 iron man is the best!!!

Ana

I am actually laughing at this. I think some of their efforts are endearing. But even so, some of these are definitely a joke.

hun

I don’t know what’s lamer/sadder, making a crappy costume on purpose or putting time into creating a better one.

Joe

If it makes people happy and doesn’t hurt anybody else, why is it wrong? Do you really think your own hobbies are that much better?

hun

i kind of said that in jest, although my lack of emoticons would have probably made some misunderstand. You are right though about peoples hobbies making them happy and its their choice. I never said it was “wrong”, i merely questioned myself on what i think is worse, someone creating a shit costume on purpose vs someone who puts the time and effort into one. You’ve misunderstood me and yes technically some hobbies are much better like for instance volunteer work.

Brandon

It does hurt us who troll through Internet pics of a specific subject. In a way, it’s like those people who post their reactions of a particular video on Y.T., or women who breast-feed on Y.T.- we’re looking at your tits, there isn’t a real need for hundreds of thousands of breast-feeding videos flooding the net, we will not get to them all in one life-time.

wow…#24 is so funny. She looks like a frog. Her eyes are so far apart. wow..lol.

gangnamstyle

making fun of someones eyes being far apart when u are crosseyed, ironic noooooo

linette lee

Are you are retard?

which one do you look like? Before or after? Is it true it’s a south korea culture before the couple get marry they are required to show baby and teenage photos to each other so they have an idea of how they really look like?

When you click reply, at the bottom of the bkx is a pic icon, click it and it will ask you where you want to retrieve the pic from, etc!

gangnamstyle

thanks, theres ur pic , crosseyed down syndrome linette

Kate

Hey you’re cute! But then most asian men are cute to me…..:)!

gangnamstyle

woulda say im cute, just not ugly like honky linette, we all know shes gonna be a 40 year old virgin

Kate

Nah ANY woman can find some man to have sex with, that’s part of the power of being a woman, women choose when to have sex (any woman can go into any bar and find a guy willing to have sex, however most men can’t find a non prostitute woman to have sex with anytime they want). There are always men willing to have sex with a woman because she is a woman.

I think you’re cute, tho the angling of the pic isn’t good and you should smile. You’re not Korean? Chinese?

gangnamstyle

wouldnt not woulda

linette lee

you look like a faggot.

gangnamstyle

dont hate me because ur ugly aight

Sillian

Lol I’ve never seen a kinky female troll like you before. It seems you have a pathological obsession with cherrypicking pictures of Korean celebs. He looked good enough with or without the eyelid thing.

Sillian

Forgot to add.

linette lee

unfortunately it’s never just the eyelids. Kpop comes with whole ps packaging. It’s like for women it’s combo A. For men it’s combo B. hahahahahah……lol.

Sounds like you weren’t sure if you were trolling or not until after everything was said and done.

Elf Queen

Downvote me as much as you want,fat people seriously need to stop cosplaying or matter of fact just dress in tight clothes and think they are gorgeous.They are not.

Kate

You shouldnt let your body size stop you from doing what you love!:)

Brandon

Take up an interest in reading.

PixelPulse

28 and the Robocop one were my favorite. 25 is not that bad for something made out of cardboard.

carmouflagger

26, Come ON!! thats cheating!

linette lee

hahaha. They are funny. I like that iron man.

Paul M

I thought Iron man was pretty damned good. Maybe the Japanese take cosplay a little too seriously these days.

mr.wiener

The Japanese take all hobbys seriously, they are no laughing matter.

bluesummers

39 got the arms right, bro.

linette lee

#17 that robot cop is cracking me up. I will take him home to cook for me. lol

poko chan

This is him.

harvz

Some of them are just having a bit of a laugh, but of course netzien haters gonna hate.

Chang Liu

People do it for a laugh, to show they don’t take it too seriously. I had a good chuckle with some of these photos which is more than can be said for the cosplayers who take themselves too seriously.

nitewings

underwear mask still wins

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739050300 Andrew Kieth Murray

No. 36 hulk looks like a Kappa.

Regina

I’m in TEARS at #33

Brandon

Oh MAN! I haven’t laughed like that and such a long time. #36 reminded me of a Kappa, Iron Man was an amusing twist, “You really can make amazing things out of cardboard, huh?” … The Japanese are such amusing creatures ;P.